Packaged charge for making soap



United States Patent PACKAGED CHARGE FOR MAKING SOAP Benjamin H. Thurman, Chicago, Ill., assignor, by inesne assignments, to The Union Stock Yard and Transit filoinpauy of Chicago, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of inois No Drawing. Application July 14, 1954 Serial No. 443,426

1 Claim. (Cl. 252-109) My invention is in the field of soap production and is a new soap article or soap charge, adapted and constructed to be used specifically in the home, the laundry, the laundromat, or the like, although it could be used any place that ordinary soap is used.

A primary object of my invention is a new soap charge, be it in the form of a cake, a bar, a slab, soap chips, flakes, or what have you, the charge being composed of all of the necessary soap making ingredients so that it can be used in the home, the laundry or otherwise.

Another object is a soap charge of the above type in which the usual caustics are so enclosed as to not be harmful to the consumer.

Another object is a soap charge of the above type which can be made from any suitable type of grease, tallow, fat, :oil, or the like.

Another object is a soap charge of the above type which is light in weight as compared with conventional soaps so that it can be shipped in bulk at a greatly reduced freight rate.

Another object is a soap charge of the above type which, even though it is heavy in caustic, is not dangerous in the hands of the consumer.

Another object is a soap charge of the above type which can be easily made with inexpensive equipment and which does not require elaborate detailed controls, precise timing, precise proportions of ingredients, long periods of heating and cooling, expensive equipment, large building or experienced labor.

Other objects will appear from time to time in the ensuing specification.

At the present time, conventional soap is usually made in soap factories from tallow or other suitable saponifiable greases or oils. Various caustics are used to saponify the oil along with well known builders of various types. Usually the tallow or grease is heated until it becomes a liquid and it is then placed in a kettle. The caustic, water, and steam must be accurately controlled. The process requires accurate controlling as to quantities, temperatures, the timing of various steps, and the like. A large quantity of water is also added and in the process all of the ingredients are thoroughly mixed while saponification is taking place. The glycerine is grained out and the soap is allowed to cool and settle. This results in liquid or solid soap, depending upon the amount of water added. The form of the final product may be a greaselike, butter-like mass which hardens into a solid block and is cut into bricks, or is dried and formed into flakes, or chips, or is ground or sprayed into a powder; or it may take the form of a true liquid soap solution, high in water content, and sold in bottles. In any case, a large amount of water is added to make the soap, and the extra Weight of the water materially increases the cost of. the equipment and processing. As the customer must eventually pay for these expensive manufacturing steps, it is desirable to cut this cost as much as possible.

The soap manufacturer generally dries as much water out of the soap as necessary so that it can be made into 12, 139 gms.

chips, bars or cakes. However, this extra drying materially increases the cost of manufacturing the soap.

My invention substantially eliminates the water problem, set forthabove. I'propose to make soap in the form of a brick or any suitable package so that it can be enclosed in a plastic or paper envelope or an inexpensive bag, or if desired, in a cardboard container, or the like. I shall hereinafter refer to this as a soap charge, it being understood that it can take any suitable formchips, flakes, bars, or the like.

The consumer can be the housewife, the laundryman, the owner of an automatic laundry, of the laundromat type, or anyone who purchases soap in what can be considered large quantities.

The consumer will be provided with a suitable type of soap kettle which can be used in the home or the laundry; and the operator merely has to put this soap charge into the kettle where it will be thoroughly mixed, heated and combined. with a suitable amount of water to make a readily usable liquid soap.

My invention pertains to the soap charge or the soap package. This charge contains the usual ingredients and elements that go into the manufacture of soap. Any suitable grease, tallow, oil, or fat can be used. Caustic is mixed with this grease while it is in a warm liquid state and is thoroughly distributed through it. Water softeners or builder chemicals are also added to the liquid grease and caustic solution and thoroughly distributed. N silicate is also added to the liquid grease in the proper'amount so as to function as a binder or as a lubricant; and it additionally speeds up the reaction of the caustics and the fatty acids in the grease. A certain amount of water can also be added to initiate saponification and cut the caustic to the optimum percentage solution for saponification.

The caustic may be either in the form of a powder or a solution. By way of example, I have set forth below a list of ingredients of my soap charge using a dry caustic powder with a certain percentage of water to cut the caustic to a 26% strength solution, it being understood, of course, that the listed percentages of the different elements are purely approximate and they can be varied slightly.

Dry caustic Percent 36 4, 360 gms. 824 gins. 2, 451 gins. 800 gins. 448 gms. 448 gms. 448 gins. 2, 360 gins.

12, 139 gms.

yellow grease sodium hydroxide (dry N silicatesogiuin garbolnatig h t =g 7 so iurn ripo yp osp a e= 0 meta silicate awn bullders trisodium phosphate water total We! caustic Percent yellow grease 36 sodium hydroxide (70% solution) 10 N silicate 20 sogllinin garbolnatie h =g 7g7 s) um ripe yp osp ate= 0 meta silicate =3V builders 17 trisodium phosphate =3}% water total 4, 360 gms. 1, gins. 2, 451 gins. 800 gms. 448 gms. 448 gins. 448 gms. 2, 014 gms.

The term N silicate is the trade name of an approximately 41% sodium silicate solution put out at the present by the Philadelphia Quartz Company and is an example of a conventional soap silicate, so called, in this industry.

Water, the last item in the formula has been reduced in the second example as compared to the first example; however, as water is also included in the sodium hydroxide solution, the total amount or total percentage of water used is the same.

In these two examples a certain amount 'of water has been used to initiate or trigger saponification. The amount of water added is that necessary to cut the strength of the caustic to a 26% solution. At this strength, the caustic saponifies the grease, and the 26% solution caustic has been found to be the best. Therefore, when the soap charge is initially mixed and stirred in the home or laundry kettle, the operator is not required to measure out a certain amount of water to initiate saponification before the final large charge of water is added to make liquid soap. Of course the initial charge of water could be left out altogether; however, I have found that it is best to add this measured amount of water and include it is the soap charge that is sold to the consumer, rather than force this tedious measurement on the unskilled consumer. The cost of the freight of the additional water in the soap charge is more than counterbalanced by the chances of the consumer spoiling a batch of soap by adding an incorrect amount of initial water. Even though the primary purpose of this initial amount of water is to start saponification and to assist the mixing of the caustic and the builders with the grease, it should, of course, be understood that it could be omitted with the builder and caustic being merely mixed directly into the liquid grease. An example of such a soap charge is given below in which a dry caustic powder has been used.

9,779 gins. total In the above example, the caustic is a powder and if it is found to be unnecessarily offensive to the operator, a 70% solution could be used and the extra amount of water is negligible. An example of this is as follows:

Wet caustic 4, 360 gms. yellow grease 1,170 gins. sodium hydrox 2,451 gms. silicate 24 2940 gins. sogium carbolnatte h -t =48$727 8 gms. so ium tripo yp osp a e= 448 gms. meta silicate =4l7g builders 2 448 gms. trisodium phosphate =4%% 10,125 grns. total In all four of the aforegoing listed examples, it should be understood that the builders are conventional; they are all well known and I do not wish to be restricted to the specific ones set forth. I have found, however, that these are inexpensive, easily obtainable, and function properly in my soap charge. If prices vary from time to time, of course these builders could be changed; for example, the percentages given above could be shifted around, or other builders could be introduced and one or more of those listed could be increased or deleted.

After the builders, the caustic, and N silicate have been mixed into the liquid grease, it is allowed to cool and solidify. it is then cut into the proper shape for the soap charge, be this soap bars, cakes, flakes, chips or powder. At the present time, it is unimportant what form the soap finally takes. I have found that a chip or powder form is possibly the best, rather than a brick, because a brick is very hard and has a tendency to damage the paddles and mixing mechanism used in the soap kettle when liquid soap is being made in the home or laundry.

In the final soap charge, the grease completely encloses the chemicals. The caustic, which has not gone into saponification, is completely harmless and it is enveloped in a film of solid grease.

The builders or water softeners are fairly evenly distributed in small lumps or particles throughout the charge. The soap manufacturer is not required to mix and stir the builders into the liquid grease for a long time; just so they are fairly well distributed. The builders can be in small lumps or particles in the resulting soap charge and the consumer will benefit by it because the builders will go into the solution first in the water and will pave the way for the soap.

I do not attempt to separate the glycerine split off from the glycerides by the caustic. Rather I leave this glycerine in the soap charge as it materially increases the cleaning action of the final liquid soap.

It can be seen that my invention provides a soap charge which contains the right amount of the necessary ingre dients for liquid soap. The grease in the charge has been partially saponified so that saponifieation can easily be completed in the consumers kettle. In the charge, the grease completely encloses or envelopes the dangerous caustics so that the soap charge is not harmful to the consumer.

The soap charge is easy to make and can be produced by inexperienced personnel. No rigid controls are required, no exact temperatures and pressures must be obtained, and the percentage of the various elements in the charge are relatively flexible. The cost of Shipping and storing this soap charge is at a minimum because practically all of the water contained in conventional soap has not been included. The builders or water softeners included in this soap charge are not critical and various substitutions can be made without affecting materially the properties of the resulting liquid soap. The ultimate consumer merely has to place this soap charge in a small soap kettle, heat it, stir it for a suitable period of time, add sufficient water to form a 10% soap solution, continue to stir the solution until saponification has been completed and thorough mixing has been accomplished, and then drain the 10% soap solution into a suitable container from which it can be withdrawn and used as desired.

The unit package or soap charge is tactually dry. It is a mixture of solid materials with possibly some water. It contains any suitable type of grease, fat, oil, tallow, or the like which can be saponified. It contains the necessary amount of caustic to initiate saponification. It contains one or more suitable builders in generally solid form. The individual particles of caustic and builders are enclosed in envelopes of grease. It is non-adhesive, and it will sink to the bottom of the soap kettle and will not stick to the walls. It can be easily broken up and mixed with water so it can be attacked and dispersed into a suitable water solution or used without diluting it with water.

While I have described and given several examples of my new soap charge, it should be understood that numerous changes and modifications can be made without departing from the fundamental theme of the invention. For example, a suitable perfume could be included, if desired. The same is true of a bleach or coloring. I therefore wish that my invention be unrestricted except as by the appended claim.

Some of the uses, utility, and advantages of my invention are as follows.

The requirement for the fat or tallow for this new process is not dependent upon the high grade or high .quality of greases and tallows employed by the average soap maker. The only stipulation is that the grease or fat should contain at least free fatty acid content. If greases are obtained which have less than the required amount of fatty acid content, or substantially none, the process can be carried out just as well by adding to the fat or the soap mixture a certain amount of presaponified soap to the extent of 1% or 2% as a catalyst or a surface tension reducing agent to start the reaction of the caustic on the fatty glycen'des.

This new type of soap or soap mix is relatively inexpensive as compared to the soap made by the regular soap making process. The fatty mixture can be prepared with or without substantial saponification having taken place prior to placing it in the specially designed soap kettle to complete saponification. One of the elements of novelty is that the caustic can be substantially dry and it will be enveloped in the grease so that it will not harm the hands or skin of the person making the product into a soap. If it is desired, a substantially complete soap can be made comparatively simple by including in the soap mix a certain amount of moisture. A feature that is important is the heat of the solution or hydration which is given off by the dilution of caustic in water, either substantially dry, pure caustic soda NaOH, liquid caustic at 70% strength. This is a substantial amount and is about 250 calories per gram. This heat is sufficient to raise the temperature of the amount of caustic and silicate used from room temperature at, say, 70 F. to as high as 175 F. The preferred way of bringing about a rather quick and complete saponification is to dissolve a dry powder caustic or a 70% strength liquid caustic in the N silicate which brings about a quick temperature rise afiording enough heat units to melt the tallow. The reaction is completed when the soap mix is allowed to stand for a period of anywhere from 24 to 36 hours.

So far as I know, no one has ever included in the soap mix, a synergist or soap builders as set forth in this invention. The result of the mix is either a finished soap that can be used after standing for several days or 24 hours in laundry chips or cakes, or bars. It is necessary for a certain amount of water to remain in the soap mixture and this Water can be added, as described in the formula, to the soap mix after all ingredients are added except the Water. The soap mix is then complete and does not require any additional additives. If it is desired to leave out the water, the soap mix can be shipped to some remote place where it can be put in a crusher and water added to bring about complete saponification to form a soap solution. Or it can be made into neat soap and cut into cake, chips, or ground into powder.

An important feature is that no large saponifying kettles are needed. Simply a crusher or bowl type mixer is required to incorporate the dry builders into the caustic and N" silicate solution.

Another important feature which should be taken into consideration is that by this mixing process the builders tend to collect in substantially large granulars or little pockets when the mixture solidifies.

I claim:

As an article of manufacture, a dry soap charge including, by weight, approximately percent of yellow grease containing at least 5 percent free fatty acid, approximately 89 percent caustic soda, approximately 25 percent of an approximately 41 percent sodium silicate solution, and approximately 21-22 percent water softeners chosen from the group consisting of water soluble phosphates, carbonates and silicates, the caustic, sodium silicate solution and water softeners being distributed through the saponifiable material so that the grease coats and covers them.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

